Up to 1,000 feared dead in India floods, landslides

By Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN

Updated 8:37 PM ET, Sun June 23, 2013

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Photos:Images: India lashed by monsoon rains

India lashed by monsoon rains – Pedestrians run from water splashing over a sea wall in Mumbai on Monday, June 24. Authorities are scrambling to rescue thousands of people trapped after floods and landslides ravaged north India, leaving up to 1,000 feared dead.

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Photos:Images: India lashed by monsoon rains

India lashed by monsoon rains – A man struggles with his umbrella during heavy rain in Mumbai on June 24.

India lashed by monsoon rains – Boatmen navigate a fast-moving river in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh state, on June 24.

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Photos:Images: India lashed by monsoon rains

India lashed by monsoon rains – Workers pack candles at a factory in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, on June 24. Candles are in great demand during India's monsoon season as heavy rains cause electricity blackouts.

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Photos:Images: India lashed by monsoon rains

India lashed by monsoon rains – A stranded pilgrim carrying a child is ziplined across a river with the help of Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel in Govindghat, India, on June 23.

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Photos:Images: India lashed by monsoon rains

India lashed by monsoon rains – Police carry a child during efforts to help stranded Indian pilgrims on June 23 after a section of road was washed away in Govindghat.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Stranded Indian pilgrims make their way up a mountain in Govindghat on June 23.

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Photos:Images: India lashed by monsoon rains

India lashed by monsoon rains – Police personnel use a rope rescue system to transport stranded pilgrims across a river in Govindghat on June 23.

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Photos:Images: India lashed by monsoon rains

India lashed by monsoon rains – Severe flooding has left more than 50,000 people stranded in northern India. A boy rescued from flood-hit areas waits with others before being sent to relief camps in Dehradun, state capital of Uttarakhand, on Friday, June 21.

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Photos:Images: India lashed by monsoon rains

India lashed by monsoon rains – A man bathes from a hand pump as a local resident carries her belongings to safer place on the banks of the Yamuna River in New Delhi on June 19.

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Photos:Images: India lashed by monsoon rains

India lashed by monsoon rains – An Indian man, who was evacuated due to rising waters, searches along the banks of the Yamuna River in New Delhi on June 21.

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Photos:Images: India lashed by monsoon rains

India lashed by monsoon rains – Buses and trucks are submerged in the rising waters of the Yamuna River near the Tibetan market in New Delhi on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Shopkeepers are using boats to traverse the rising waters of the Yamuna River at the Tibetan market in New Delhi on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Men watch the rising waters of the Yamuna River from a bridge in New Delhi on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Civil Defence volunteers warn people against attempting to catch floating pumpkins, watermelons and other objects from the rising waters of the Yamuna River in New Delhi on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Evacuees hug their family members after arriving by helicopter in Dehradun, the capital of the state of Uttarakhand on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Hindu priests move their shelters from the banks of the Ganga river as the water level rises in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh state, on June 19.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – The Kedarnath Temple (C, foreground) is pictured amid flood destruction in the holy Hindu town of Kedarnath in Uttarakhand state on June 18.

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India lashed by monsoon rains – Water flows over a Hindu statue during heavy monsoon rains in Rishikesh town in the state of Uttrakhand on June 17.

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Story highlights

The exact number of those killed will not be clear until the mess is cleaned up

Uttarakhand state is the worst-hit

Indian authorities scrambled to rescue thousands of people trapped after floods and landslides ravaged the Himalayan region, leaving up to 1,000 feared dead.

The exact number of those killed will not be clear until the muddy waters are cleaned up and the bodies recovered, said Vijay Bahuguna, the chief minister of Uttarakhand state, which is the worst-hit.

"Certainly, the number of the dead is much higher than 550 ... and it could be around 1,000 as figures coming in suggest," he said Saturday.

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Emergency operations include the military and all forms of transportation, including trains moving people for free.

About 70,000 have been evacuated since the floods hit this month.

Barrages of water, mud and rocks have hit scores of towns and villages in the Indian state, inundating homes, shrines, roads and vehicles.

Bahuguna, has described the disaster as a "Himalayan tsunami."

Dotted with temples and often referred to as "the Land of Gods," Uttarakhand attracts large numbers of pilgrims from around India to its mountainous reaches. Those travelers, many of them far from home and short on belongings, are now caught up in the destruction.

Thousands of rescue workers are trying to reach more than 50,000 people cut off by the waters. Bahuguna told CNN's sister network CNN-IBN on Friday night that the death toll was 556 but could rise. The bodies "were either buried or floating in slush," he said. It will take 15 days to complete evacuations in the province, he added.

Other parts of northern India, including New Delhi, have also been hit by flooding, but Uttarakhand has suffered the worst of the devastation.

The rains over the region have eased in the past few days, aiding in the rescue of about 30,000 people, Bahuguna said.

Gurjit Singh, who had traveled to the town of Gobindghat with his 12-year-old son, described a chaotic scene as people tried to escape the flooding last week.

"There was nothing but death in front of us," Singh said Thursday after getting out of a crowded car ferrying people to dry, flat land. "Now that we've got out, we feel like we've got a second life."

His son, Rana Udesh Pratap, said the trek to safety was long.

"I held my father's hand and walked and walked and walked on a narrow path," he said. The two had made a pilgrimage to Uttarakhand from the nearby state of Punjab to visit the Sikh Hemkunt Sahib shrine.